The Town Plan Public Hearing will be at the Lincoln Town Office at 7 PM on Thursday, December 7th
The Planning Commission invites you to attend and discuss this proposed Town Plan. We seek your comments, suggestions, and any concerns about this new Town Plan. This document does provide guidance for our Town Officers, Zoning and Subdivision regulations, Act 250, and the Public Service Commission over the next 10 years.
Both this new draft and the old Town Plan are available at the Town Office, or at this Web Site:
http://lincolnvermont.org/town-office/zoning-and-planning/
We encourage your participation. A summary of changes in this draft Town Plan follows:
Thank You,
L Owen Farnsworth
LOF3@accessvt.com
This memorandum seeks to highlight the changes that the Planning Commission deems the most substantive. However, all are encouraged to read the entire plan.
1. Land Use Area Changes. The new plan did not make any changes to any of Lincoln’s Land Use areas. All stayed the same as in the previous plan.
2. Statistical Changes. The 2007 plan relied upon statistics dating to the 2000 U.S. Census. The new plan incorporated data from the 2010 Census. Additionally, it revised all text related to demographic changes that had occurred in Lincoln during the period from 2000 to 2010. This included, as one example, more of a focus on elderly and affordable housing. One of the most interesting the results of this change was that Lincoln’s population remained almost exactly the same over the decade. However, its average median age increased by almost 10 years.
3. Maps. The amended Plan also includes a new comprehensive set of maps. Most maps, like topography and elevation did not change at all. Others, like the Transportation map changed to reflect new underlying data.
4. History. The Planning Commission would like to thank the historical society for the work they did to help improve the brief history of Lincoln that leads the plan.
5. Goals and Policy Changes. The statistical and other planning section changes also lead to changes updating the goals and polices of the Lincoln Town Plan. In particular, the planning commission added a “Plan Implementation” Section on page to highlight the work the planning commission felt should be priorities for Lincoln in the near term.
6. Energy. The Planning Commission significantly expanded and strengthened the Energy Section of the Town Plan. It included enforceable community standards to the section governing the type of renewable energy generation the Town would support, where those resources should be located (under 1,800 ft.), how large they can be (Solar limited to 150kW, about an acre) (wind, lower than 200 ft. tower and less than 1 MW) and how they could be mitigated (See standards) and how they must be decommissioned.
7. Economic Development and Education. The Planning Commission largely rewrote these sections to reflect Lincoln’s current goals.
8. Transportation. The Planning Commission rewrote this section to focus both on the near-term need to maintain local roads and bridges to standards to promote resiliency and water quality and to support a trail for walking and biking in the village area and for the long-term needs to support other modes of transportation in addition to the single occupancy vehicles.
9. Emergency Management All Hazard Mitigation and Flood Resiliency. Lastly, Lincoln added a section dealing with flood resiliency to address that new statutory requirement. This section incorporates data from Lincoln’s All Hazard Mitigation plan and promotes the work Lincoln’s town government does to help make Lincoln as disaster resilient as it can.
In summary, the planning commission substantially rewrite elements in nearly all of the sections of the plan. The Planning Commission believes the changes make the plan stronger and that its implementation will make Lincoln a better place to live for all if its citizens.
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